We here at The Revealer are such malcontents. Take the RNC. We’re not happy with the way the press is (not) covering religion at the convention from the inside, and we’re not happy with the way the press is covering (up) religion outside. Latest case in point is that of the New York tabloids, which put the spin on yesterday’s protests, to be diluted and sent out on the wire through more respectable publications. Verdict on yesterday’s dissent: “Demonic.” (New York Post.) Sure, the Post is extreme — but everywhere we look we’re seeing reports of 900-1000 “anarchists” arrested. Which just doesn’t match up with the march and “die-in” that caught our attention, composed mainly of Catholic Workers and liberal protestant groups. Two hundred were arrested for walking two-by-two on the sidewalk near ground zero. Anarchic? Not really. Scriptural? You decide. We caught up with the remnant at 28th and Broadway. Frankly, after standing around watching around 100 people lying in the street without a peep, we could have used a little more anarchy, or at least some songs. But that would have upset the martyr vibe. We’re not being snarky — that’s the idea of civil disobedience, as fundamentally Christian as the baritone who sang the lovely “Amazing Grace” at the RNC’s opening night. God may be in the Garden, but He’s also in the streets. The press, meanwhile, is in a diner…
“I am enraged that Bush has used the Bible for personal gain,” a “daily Bible reader” tellsAlternet, which also reports on some inadvertently “fair and balanced” police, who performed flying tackles to prevent protestors from getting near the Hardball set, and then booted a self-described “corporate media” reporter from the crowd for picking fights with protestors.
Will evangelical RNC delegates take to the streets? “We didn’t realize [convention planners] were going to eliminate and censor everything about God,” Rod McDougal, head of the Pastoral Congressional Prayer Conference, complains to The Boston Globe.
An unusual protest at the RNC later today will target not just FOX news, but all mainstream media outlets. Backed by FAIR and other media criticism outfits, it’s mostly a leftist affair; but The Revealer suspects that the inadequacy of big TV news is something those who watch for religion in the press can agree on. The march…
Brad Karger, a 29-year old pipe bomber from Watertown, Massachusetts, failed to gain significant national attention for his second — and this time successful — attempt to bomb a Boston-area laboratory specializing in stem-cell research. Reuters reports that Karger, who had tried to blow up the same Amaranth Bio laboratory last year, was arrested and is awaiting trial for charges of “having placed an explosive device and burning a building.” Some observers speculate that Karger must be feeling unfairly “upstaged” or “passed over,” since all the media’s “terrorist” coverage is focusing on the nuns, grandparents and other crazed anarchists gathered this week in New York.